Wolf Hall... struggling...

[babber]

After reading several outstanding reviews for Wolf Hall (many of which on here) i was quite excited to start this book.

I am now quite gutted that I don't seem to be enjoying it... I'm only 2 chapters in but its becoming a bit of a chore rather than a pleasure to read... Am I missing something? Why does the auther keep referring to several people as 'he' during the same conversation? is it written in first person or not? I find this is very confusing and is meaning i have to keep re-reading parts to decipher who exactly is saying what... I read a lot, but maybe this is too 'high brow' for me. Just wondering should I persevere? will i be rewarded? does it become less of a slog as you go through it?
I hate giving up on books once i've started but I also hate not looking forward to reading on my way to work...

Have just read the first 50 odd pages in the bath.

Am quite enjoying it so far, although agree that it is overly wordy in places.

I really liked it, rather to my surprise, normally I'd avoid anything about the Tudors or the monarchy, not my subjects of choice.

I'm rather hoping there will be a sequel.

It was too heavy though, I had the hardback, it gave me armache.

ooh interesting. I too am trying to read this after the rave reviews it got.

I find myself really interested in some bits (Thomas's family, Anne Boleyn, Henry) and I think brilliant brilliant, but then I stumble on another bit (usually the Cardinal) and think oh snore.

Though I am trying to read it immediately after finishing 'The Help', which was bloody brilliant, so it has a lot to live up to.

Am still going with it and still quite liking bits of it.

Present tense is bothering me a bit though and I'm finding the jumps in time a bit irksome, as I never know which bit I'm meant to be in when!

Agree it is too heavy - especially for cosy bathtime reading.

If you are thinking of giving it a try and you have an iphone you can download an app of the book for free that has the first chapter or two.

I have downloaded the free app and will now go to bed and try it.

i'm reading this for my book club this month. i started reading it just as i went down with a combination of infections, resulting in high temp & not completely lucid - it didn't help with working out who 'he' was & i'm so glad other people have said it as i thought it was just my fever-addled brain not working very well.

still not enjoying it, particularly as i know what happens (spoiler - ann boleyn marries henry - eventually). i think NOT knowing what happens would be better - at least there would be a motive to read it. as it is, i know the ending (wiki has a much easier summary of the period if you want to look), don't enjoy the writing style & have no great attachment to the characters or period. also not keen on the 'sly' references to some of the famous characters, like him not knowing who jane seymour was at first.

also, far too long & wordy.

oh, and why is it called wolf hall?

Wolf Hall is the family home of Jane Seymour. I also think it refers to the predatory atmosphere of the court and the wolfish behaviour of some of the characters.

I don't agree that it's 'sly' that Thomas Cromwell doesn't know who Jane Seymour is when he first meets her. Why would he know who she is the first time he sees her? She's just a girl at that point.

I agree the plot can't drive things along, since the reader knows (or can know) what happens. For me it's the characterisations and relationships that make it compelling.

I was a bit disappointed that we never actually made it to Wolf Hall. I suppose that might happen in the sequel.

I liked the humour about the (Holbein? It's a while since I read it now) portrait and Cromwell being disappointed at quite how ugly he was. It is a spectacularly ugly portrait.

Brilliant brilliant brilliant.

Anyone who doesn't agree has to go to that extra long standing up popey mass in a field somewhere.

The end.

I loved it but I read it on holiday, I don't think it's a book that lends itself to dribs and drabs reading. There's no way I would have managed it at home, you need to get really stuck into it

the odd pacing made it feel very plausible to me. It's the opposite of those romantic fiction books where the text keeps swooping up for an overview. None of the 'and she felt in her bones this was a momentous day' omniscient narration crap.

It was very matter of fact and gappy, which made it dry to start with, but then I really got absorbed and convinced by the minutae of the challenges faced by the protagonist - especially given it was such dramatic period of history.

the vast number of characters is a bit confusing, but makes it more real. however, 'he' does sometimes refer to people by their title rather than name, which can be confusing given how much people rose & fell politically.

what was it with calling everyone thomas back then?

I'm getting bored of it now, especially of Anne B. Don't know if I'll carry on with it.

Just about to start Part 4 - about 280 pages in.

There is still A LOT of book left!

I've ordered it from the library for autumn nights.....

I think the fact that I am still hanging around on here, instead of reading it, might be telling me something.

nearly finished! (book club is monday night)

it's obviously not gonna take us all the way to the end of the story spoiler alert - he dies. in fact, they all die sooner or later.

I'm just wondering how soon I'm going to lose sympathy with him - because so far I have liked him. The present tense thing is annoying me more and more though and she does like a waffle, doesn't she? Have only managed about 30 pages since I last reported!

I started reading it on holiday last month and was really getting into it, but back in the real world I'm finding that it is just sitting on the coffee table gathering dust. I can't seem to muster up the concentration levels necessary to keep up with it after a day of work and running around after the DC.

I really want to get back into it though.

oh no - I just swopped this book with a friend. I read Beyond Black and one of her others and quite enjoyed them so a friend leant me Wolf Hall - I was quite excited about reading it but maybe not now! Her other books are not really linked to history.

Some of them are. She wrote A Place of Greater Safety, about the French Revolution, which is equally brilliant. part of her brilliance is that all her books are very different.